These are the sweat-sodden, footsore dog days of cricket on the subcontinent, when the pitches are as sluggish as Sunday post-prandial, the sun beats down, the thermometer tips the ton and batsmen fill their boots. For one whole session Matt Prior divested himself of his wicketkeeping pads and used nothing but a pair of shortleg shinpads: fleetingly, the thought came that cricket could be played in shorts. Or from a deckchair.

This was not a good toss to lose and England toiledon Tuesday, a harbinger perhaps of what may await when they return to the Premadasa in a fortnight. They were grateful for the dressing room sanctuary by the close of play. England were given the run-around by Chamara Silva, once a Test batsman and perhaps again now, whose accomplished flamboyant century was the foundation of the Development XI's 376 for five. But there were half-centuries too for the brooding big man Thilina Kandamby (64) and Angelo Perera, unbeaten on 61, as the score rattled along all day at more than four runs per over.

Efficient use of the new ball is vital in Sri Lanka, and Stuart Broad, playing in his first match of the tour and looking tentative at the start, made use of it, claiming two early wickets in the morning and another with the first delivery with the second one late in the day. In between, though, England learned the lesson that containment, pressure-building and patience will be the passport to success. This was not a day for the spinners to remember, however. Monty Panesar was rested for this match, but so readily did the Sri Lankan batsmen play Graeme Swann and Samit Patel that the 39 overs the pair bowled between them cost 185 runs and they ended with just the single wicket of the left-hander Kandamby, bowled out of the rough by Patel, to show for it.

Swann, in particular, looks a shadow of the cocksure bowler of the past few years, and was given a tough time at the start of his spell, which left him already trying to claw things back, finding no help from pitch or batsmen who are adept at playing spin. Swann secured his own century in the final over of the day. His value to the side goes beyond his bowling alone, but his place is by no means the sinecure it once was.

There was more promise, however, from Steve Finn, whose progress this winter has been dramatic and who looked the most dangerous bowler – or least benign anyway – with the old ball, gaining significant reverse swing both ways (the ball was reversing well enough as early as the 15th over), and, for his perseverance perhaps deserved more than the single wicket of Silva. By this time, though, Silva had 163 good reasons to look astonished when Finn offered him a mouthy send-off after Jonathan Trott had taken the skyer top-edged high to long leg.

England do need control, however, if they are to compete strongly in the series, and in the absence of Panesar, who is becoming excellent at attritional cricket, Andrew Strauss, while not seeing his attack taken apart, was never able to apply a tourniquet. They will need a better maiden-over ratio than the one-in-10 he got here. Silva, who last played a Test nearly four years ago, and, at 32, seems a little old for a development side, may have played himself to the fringe of re-selection. There is none more prolific than him in domestic competition this season, where he is averaging in the 80s: his hundred here in the SSC is his sixth.

In to face the fifth ball of the match, after Malinda Warnapura had driven Broad's gentle pathfinder to mid-off, he hit 25 fours and a six, his innings, from 180 deliveries, ending in a blaze as he clambered into Finn. He drove crisply, cut strongly, was deadly off his legs and reached his hundred by belting Patel just to the onside of straight. His wicket, when it finally came, appeared to be more a charitable donation than a triumph for the bowler.